The Sacramento business community was remembering developer Joe Benvenuti on Thursday as an icon who significantly shaped the capital region and brought the Sacramento Kings to town.

Benvenuti died Wednesday at age 91. He had suffered a stroke last fall.

“Joe had a great vision for what he wanted Sacramento to become,” said Greg Van Dusen, who worked with Benvenuti long ago as part of the first group that owned the Kings. “He wanted Sacramento to become a major city, as we can tell from some of his downtown buildings.”

Benvenuti’s projects include the first Arco Arena and second home of the Kings that is now called Power Balance Pavilion, the Hyatt Regency Sacramento and the Renaissance Tower, the 28-story building on K Street that some people call the Darth Vader building.

“I think they broke the mold with him,” said Gary Benvenuti, son of Joe Benvenuti. There won’t be another person like his dad, he said. His father did things his own way. “He accomplished a lot with that philosophy.”

While Joe Benvenuti still owned JB Co. in Sacramento, Gary Benvenuti and company vice president Jim Gately have run the business for several years and will continue to do so, Gately said.

“The running of the company will be seamless,” said Gately, who has known the elder Benvenuti for 32 years.

The Sacramento-based company employs 60 people and owns 13 million square feet of commercial properties in Northern California and in the Midwest, primarily industrial but also office and retail.

“Everybody knows Joe,” said Eschelman, who over the years has worked on deals on Benvenuti properties.

“We’ve lost a statue of a human being in our community, especially in real estate circles,” the broker said.

“Without Mr. Benvenuti, we never would have had the Kings in Sacramento, nor would we have been able to build two arenas,” Van Dusen said.

Other partners did not have the financial wherewithal to bring the National Basketball Association team here from Kansas City or build a venue for the Kings, Van Dusen said.

In a statement, the Maloof family, which has owned a majority share in the Kings since 1997, expressed sadness over Benvenuti’s death.

“He was a vital member of the Sacramento Kings family and a pillar in the community for more than 60 years,” the statement said. ”His vision, entrepreneurial spirit and business savvy combined to serve an integral role in bringing the Kings to Northern California in 1985. He will be greatly missed and forever hold an endearing place in the hearts and minds of those who have had the fortune of knowing him. Joe’s contributions to the Kings over the team’s 27 seasons in Sacramento cannot be overstated.”